Clear Plans Return To Airport Security Lines

Clear, a biometric identification service that allowed time-crunched travelers to zip through security lines, is set to return to airports this fall.

Alclear LLC said Tuesday that it’s in the process of restarting the program after it purchased the Clear assets out of bankruptcy for $5.87 million last month.

“We are thrilled to re-launch Clear,” Chairman and Chief Executive Caryn Seidman-Becker said in a statement. “We look forward to partnering with airports nationwide, regulators and lawmakers to ensure Clear’s success.”

Clear, which allowed customers to use dedicated lines at airport security checkpoints, shut down in June 2009 after its owner, Verified Identity Pass Inc., was unable to keep up with payments on a $32 million loan. Verified Identity filed for Chapter 11 protection in December of last year to sell its assets.

Alclear gained approval from Judge Stuart M. Bernstein of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan to purchase the Clear assets on April 16 after it outbid Henry Inc.’s rival offer by nearly $2 million.

Alclear plans to begin enrolling new customers in the program this summer. Membership in Clear will cost $179 per year for unlimited use.

The company said it will honor the remaining subscription terms for its nearly 160,000 previous members, but will not offer cash refunds to customers who have been unable to use the service for nearly a year.

Alclear also did not announce which airports will offer the service. Before the program was shut down, Clear operated in 16 airports, including those in the New York and Washington regions.

Clear collects customers’ personal and biometric information, including iris scans and fingerprints, and then uses that data to meet federal requirements that allows members to swiftly move through airport security lines.

The company’s board of directors includes former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Robert LaPenta, chairman and chief executive of L-1 Identity Solutions, and Craig Coy, former head of the Massachusetts Port Authority, operator of Boston’s Logan International Airport.

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